DIY: Upgrade Your Mac Mini To 1TB

There's nothing like a mildly over-complicated DIY project to start off the workweek. Today, we're going follow iFixit's 9-page pictorial guide to upgrade a Mac Mini's standard 120GB-320GB hard drive to a terabyte monster that can be used for RAID mirroring/striping, as a built-in Time Machine, or as a media streaming hub without the need of an external HDD taking up precious space in your media theater cabinet. So grab your solder guns and putty knives, because this one is going to require a little bit of extra elbow grease...

Because the Mac Mini's size, it's a whole lot more difficult trying to maneuver while poking around inside the case. So if you're wondering it takes 27 steps to install a hard drive, this is the reason why. You're going to need a hard hat for this one.

Fortunately, the parts themselves aren't too difficult to come by. All you need to do this mod is some knowledge of soldering (with soldering iron), two 500GB HDDs, a putty knife, and a Philips #0 screwdriver. Most of the parts can be found online and at your local hardware store.

If you're too lazy to go hunting for the parts yourself, iFixit is offering a Mac Mini Mod DIY Kit that comes nearly complete with the two HDDs and hardware tools (for the exception of the soldering iron and electrical tape). These run $250 each.

For the whole set of instructions, check out iFixit's thorough guide over here.